LA LA LAND – Review

Starting with the very first scene, LA LA LAND is ready to deliver magic with a message. What begins as a frustrating traffic jam billowing with different music and offhand noise, ends as a dazzling one-take shot of people dancing atop cars on the freeway. People of all different races and backgrounds jump out of their isolated worlds and come together to sing about the wonderful day on display despite the infuriating situation they are stuck in. There’s not an ounce of irony in this exhilarating song and dance number; it’s simply the director making a case for looking at life in a glass “half full” sort of way.

Damien Chazelle (WHIPLASH) has made a film about optimism shining bright in LA – a city that we often associate with such words as vapid, self-involved, and shallow. Sure, he’s romanticizing an idea of Hollywood that has faded with time, but maybe that’s what people need right now. Maybe that’s why the internet collectively smiled with glee after the first trailer for his new film was released. At a time when the country is as divided as it is, LA LA LAND is here to encourage us to turn off our individual radios and problems, and take our neighbor’s hand and dance in the streets.

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone play a pair of struggling artists and lovers. Sebastian (Gosling) is a passionate jazz musician – a jazz purist – who longs to open his own club in a Los Angeles building where past musical greats once played. Mia (Stone) works as a barista on a studio lot when she’s not racing to the next audition, much like the many girls she is up against for the same roles. After a few abrupt run-ins, the two finally face each other at a party where Sebastian is performing. After a meet-cute that has each other delivering biting remarks between suppressed smirks, the duo soon take off on a friendship that turns into a soaring romance that becomes tested by their own individual artistic dreams.

What makes LA LA LAND such an astonishing cinematic treat isn’t just the instantly palpable chemistry between Gosling and Stone, but it’s the pitch-perfect combination of casting, ambitious direction, and sumptuous design that harmoniously sing together. Every frame is filled with lush colors that are bursting with energy as cinematographer Linus Sandgren glides the camera in an effortless, almost painterly fashion. Many of the camera shots extend on and on, as if Sundgren is holding his breath as he attempts to outdo the shot before. The film borders on becoming a dizzying kaleidoscope of whimsy – though it barely avoids being too sweet for its own good.

Although the camerawork and color palette take viewers into an occasionally fantastical world, there’s a realness to how the characters move about the frame. Mia is a character we’ve seen many times before, and yet the kicker here is she’s actually a good actress (as we see in several sequences). And when she dances with Sebastian, all of her movements don’t feel that out of the ordinary. You would never mistake her or him for professional dancers, and so the choreography purposefully reflects that. Likewise, their songs feel appropriately restrained while still conveying the emotion needed to balance with the visuals. Their dancing reflects a sort of “everyman” aesthetic which grounds their story, even when the film literally takes them waltzing across the clouds.

This sense of hyperreality has been seen in film musicals before. Jacques Demy’s musicals of the 60s (THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG and THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT) vibrate with the same bright colors. Though narratively, the film shares similarities with the more recent cult musical THE LAST FIVE YEARS. That being said, Chazelle makes LA LA LAND purely his own. It’s nostalgic without bemoaning the past. In the end, the film isn’t afraid to interrupt the romantic dreams with a cell phone ring to remind us of the world we live in.

The sequence where Emma Stone sings about her aunt during a film audition is an emotional showstopper that’s worthy of her receiving an Oscar nomination on its own. It’s a song about taking risks and is an essential and thematic turning point; the song becomes about letting go of the past and accepting the inevitable future. Regardless of what is to come, there’s a sense of happiness for what occurred and not sadness for what might end. LA LA LAND is a romantic musical more in love with the journey than the destination.

The harsh reality of traffic jams and historic buildings in LA closing down is met with a postmodern optimistic shrug. So what if jazz isn’t exactly how it used to be or if most of Hollywood is more concerned with parties than talent…  Chazelle isn’t going to let this negativity outshine his view of the world – even if his world borders on fantasy. Instead, LA LA LAND bursts with a joyful lust for life! Even amid the tears and the “what if” moments, Chazelle guides the film forward instead of looking back with regrets. It’s a film that’s aware of what came before while acknowledging that you also have to celebrate a new chapter… a new day. Chazelle doesn’t see a city of broken dreams – he sees a city of stars. It may be the talented cast and showstopping scenes that make the film so damn entertaining, but it’s this unabashed optimism that makes LA LA LAND so rewarding.

Overall Score: 5 out of 5

LA LA LAND is now playing in select cities and opens in St. Louis at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema on Friday, Dec. 16th